The head of a dwarf in the style of Benin, encrusted and partly greenish oxidised patina, incl. certificate of origin and provenance.

Singular identities: The 1897 British conquest compromised Benin´s rich stylistic and iconographic legacies. Because of looting, the hereditary Edo guilds lost their visual references, and the subsequent interregnum deprived them of their traditional patrons. These disruptions hamper the identification and interpretation of many pre-1897 objects. Although the mon archy was restored in 1914, and colonialism ended nearly forty years ago, political, religious and cultural changes still reverbrate. Source: Kathy Curnow: Kulte, Künstler, Könige in Afrika - Tradition und Moderne in Südnigeria, Page 83 - 86.

A fragmentary Head of a Dwarf, ex Völkerkunde Museum, now Humboldtforum Berlin, Source: Kathy Curnow:
Kulte, Künstler, Könige in Afrika - Tradition und Moderne in Südnigeria, Page 83 (Luschan 1919, Plate 65).

sold

Height: 18,5 cm
Width: 25,0 cm
Weight: 2,9 kg

A close up of the patina.